World edges towards autarky

Evidence at the CLSA Japan forum suggests that economies have no choice but to turn inwards and become self-sufficient.

We are told by economists of the classical school that protectionism in the 1930s made the Great Depression worse. But evidence from the CLSA Japan forum suggests it is free market policies themselves that are forcing countries to become increasingly autarkic -- a word last used in the 1930s, referring to economies becoming self-reliant.

One of the most striking comments in this vein came from CLSA's auto analyst Christopher Richter. His solution to the Japanese carmakers being clobbered by...